PLZEN, Czech Republic: It was a meaningless win to close out a disappointing Champions League campaign for Barcelona.
Barcelona finished the group stage with a 4-2 win at Viktoria Plzen on Tuesday, a result that did little to cushion the blow of the Catalan club’s second consecutive early exit in the European competition.
“The overall evaluation of our group campaign has to be negative,” Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández said. “We had qualification in our own hands and didn’t manage it. We didn’t take our opportunities.”
Barcelona had already been eliminated in advance, while Plzen knew it had finished last in Group C. Barcelona ended the group stage with seven points in third place, guaranteed of a spot in the Europa League playoffs.
“Now we are candidates for the Europa League,” said Xavi, who didn’t use all of his regular starters on Tuesday. “It’s a beautiful competition and we will fight to win it.”
Last season, Barcelona was eliminated from the second-tier competition by eventual champion Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarterfinals.
Ferran Torres scored twice and Marcos Alonso and teenager Pablo Torre grabbed a goal each for the Catalan club on Tuesday. The hosts got on the board with a pair of goals by Tomás Chorý.
Barcelona’s only other group-stage victory had been 5-1 against Plzen in their opener. It then lost 2-0 at Bayern Munich and 1-0 at Inter Milan, which both advanced to the next round. Bayern beat Inter 2-0 at home on Tuesday for its six straight victory in the group.
A 3-3 draw at home against Inter then meant Barcelona needed the Italian team to stumble in its final matches, which didn’t happen. Barcelona also lost 3-0 at home to Bayern.
It was the first time since 1999 that Barcelona failed to advance to the knockout stage in consecutive years, coinciding with the departure of Lionel Messi to Paris Saint-Germain two seasons ago.
This season’s failure to advance was a humbling setback after Barcelona went on a spending spree to boost its squad in the hope of recovering some of that money with a deep run in the European competition. But not even the addition of the likes of Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha were enough in the Champions League.
Lewandowski was not in the squad on Tuesday because of a minor back issue. Midfielders Franck Kessie and Torre were substituted during the match because of injuries.
Barcelona has its focus on the Spanish league, where it trails Real Madrid by one point at the top of the standings. It has won 10 of its first 12 league matches.
Plzen finished its campaign with six losses. It was outscored 24-5 by its opponents.
“It was really tough group and I have to say we did not expect it to be as difficult,” Plzen goalkeeper Jindřich Stanek said.
Barça ends Champions League campaign with 4-2 win over Plzen
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Barça ends Champions League campaign with 4-2 win over Plzen
- Barcelona ended the group stage with seven points in third place, guaranteed of a spot in the Europa League playoffs
Arsenal go nine points clear, Man Utd win again under Carrick
- Arsenal have 56 points from 25 games with Manchester City, who face Liverpool away on Sunday
- Manchester United are on 44 points after their 2-0 home win against Tottenham Hotspur
LONDON: Arsenal marched nine points clear in the Premier League title race as Viktor Gyokeres hit two in a 3-0 home defeat of Sunderland and Manchester United made it four wins out of four for caretaker manager Michael Carrick to maintain their top-four push on Saturday.
Third-placed Aston Villa dropped further behind Arsenal as they drew 1-1 with Bournemouth while Chelsea’s Cole Palmer bagged a hat-trick in a 3-1 victory at bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers, including two penalties.
Eighteenth-placed West Ham United earned three vital points in their bid to avoid relegation, Crysencio Summerville and Taty Castellanos sealing a 2-0 win at second-from-bottom Burnley whose survival hopes now look remote.
Everton scored two late goals as they came from behind to win 2-1 at Fulham, the win lifting them to seventh.
The celebrations at the final whistle at The Emirates were loud and long as joyous Arsenal fans displayed their belief that a first title since 2004 is now in sight.
Sunderland proved a tough nut to crack but Arsenal remained patient and were rewarded with a fourth successive victory in all competitions.
Arsenal dominated the first half but had to wait until the 42nd minute to get ahead when Martin Zubimendi’s sweetly-struck low drive crept inside the post.
Gyokeres has struggled at times during his first season in north London since his move from Sporting, but he swept in a clinical finish in the 66th minute to make it 2-0.
Gabriel Martinelli then played in the Swede for his second deep into stoppage time.
No Premier League player has scored more goals across all competitions since the turn of the year than Gyokeres (six) and Arteta praised the Swedish striker’s resilience.
“He doesn’t seem too affected by the real highs or the lows and that’s what we need — stability. He’s very demanding of himself. He’s constantly trying to improve,” Arteta said.
Arsenal have 56 points from 25 games with Manchester City, who face Liverpool away on Sunday, on 47 from 24. Villa also have 24 points but their challenge is fading.
ROMERO SENDING OFF HELPS MAN UTD
Manchester United are on 44 points after their 2-0 home win against Tottenham Hotspur who played three quarters of the game with 10 men after captain Cristian Romero was sent off for a tackle on Casemiro.
Bryan Mbeumo put United in front 10 minutes after Romero’s dismissal, applying the final touch to a clever corner routine involving Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo.
Fernandes wrapped up the points in the 81st minute.
While Carrick’s resurgent United are well-placed for a return to the Champions League, Tottenham are slipping too close to the relegation zone for comfort after their run without a league win extended to seven.
They have 29 points in 14th place, six ahead of West Ham who are in the last relegation place. Villa, who could have gone second, took the lead in the 22nd minute at Bournemouth when Morgan Rogers linked up with Jadon Sancho before powering a shot high into the net. The hosts earned their 10th league draw of the season though as Brazilian teenager Rayan scored his first goal in English football. Chelsea’s Palmer became the first player in Premier League history to score three hat-tricks in the first half of a match, having also done it against Everton and Brighton and Hove Albion. He now also has more Premier League hat-tricks than any other Chelsea player, after grabbing a fourth.
Palmer put Chelsea ahead from the spot in the 13th minute after a foul on Joao Pedro and repeated the trick in the 35th minute after another foul on the same teammate.
Palmer’s hat-tick came as he fired home from Marc Cucurella’s pass. New manager Liam Rosenior has now won four successive league games with his side bouncing back from their League Cup semifinal defeat by Arsenal on Tuesday.
Chelsea are fifth with 43 points, four points above champions Liverpool in sixth.
At the bottom, Wolves and Burnley look doomed to relegation with eight and 15 points respectively but West Ham are now only three points behind 17th-placed Nottingham Forest.
